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Wednesday, 11 June 2014

World Cup 2014: Preview

Pelada is more
than just kicking and caressing a ball. Pelada
is an escape, a release, an opportunity to make a name for yourself across the
globe or just around the seemingly horizonless city. Pelada is everywhere Christ the Redeemer can see; on the beaches, sandwiched
between the roads that connect millions, (literally) on the slopes of the
favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Pelada is
played by the people; the children, the parents, the students, the hopeful, the
breadline. Pelada has no curfew or surface;
it is played throughout the calendar around the clock on mud, concrete and
sand. Pelada, or pick-up football, is
watched by all; including the scouts and the dubious agents, and shares it’s
name with the word Brazilian men use for naked women. Every Brazilian with the
ambition of representing the Selecao
participates amongst men and even woman much older than them on their city’s
pitches and every so often one captures the world’s attention.

The Next Pele and the First Neymar swallows his Santos crest
with composure. He knows what he’s just
done, right? Everyone else in the stadium thinks they know what happened;
their boy-wonder just received an inconvenient pass forty meters out on the
touchline and turned it into a gift from the Gods. He’s evaded his markers (as well as one of the
games’ camera technicians) and delicately sliced the Flamengo defence apart with
the beauty of Catwoman; yet he almost seems reluctant to celebrate. “Outrageous goal scored, now onto the next
one”. He runs towards the stand and shares the moment with one of the
brightest financial figures of the 21st Century, the man who instigated
his move to Europe and the subsequent collapse of FC Barcelona’s President; his
father.

Black cat black kitten. Sex still sells in Brazil, just not
as much as Neymar. The Neymar party’s ability to attract lucrative sponsorships
was the reason for his prolonged stay in the Brazilian domestic league, with
the forward earning European wages thanks to an expanding Brazilian economy. His
face adorns billboards for products ranging from cars to sportswear to grooming
products; regular superstar activity. His website however allows fans to
purchase goods beyond sanity. Mugs and flasks with the Neymar logo on it are
available. Couch looking naked? Buy a Neymar cushion. If you move quickly you
can purchase an official Neymar bobblehead at the reduced price of $13.99. Need
a notebook to write up a shopping list for your next visit to the 22 year old’s
site? You get the jist. You can now even score like Neymar; his name has become
so popular with consumers that it now adorns a brand of condoms that rose onto
the market last month.

He is the face of a World Cup clouded in despair and anger.
While the World Cup remains a secondary thought on the eve of the tournament
the host nation can still expect vociferous backing from their compatriots in
the stands as they embark upon a month-long tour around Brazil ahead of a final
in the Maracana on July 13th; a final they are expected to win. This
month could be the difference between whether or not Neymar can sell 1,283 special gems created from the carbon contained in his hair in fifty years’ time.
Naturally he isn’t the sole protagonist at the tournament and there is an array
of teams hoping to leave their mark on the tournament.

One potential second round opponent for Brazil are the
Netherlands, led by a Manchester bound Louis van Gaal who in truth will be
relieved he has found a new job ahead of the tournament. While it’s almost a cliché
at this stage, this Dutch team is far weaker than previous groups. Their
backline, albeit a settled unit, is unfortunately comprised of not only players
from the Eredivisie, but also Ron Vlaar. Their opponents in Group B include Spain
and an exciting, effervescent Chile side who drew with their Latin rivals in an
enthralling friendly last year. Spain are attempting to stretch the limits of
their own greatness by winning a fourth consecutive major title and a second
World Cup after their success in South Africa four years ago. While their
success has been unparalleled by anyone aside from Brazil at the turn of the
1960’s, it’s impossible to consider them anything but underappreciated. Perhaps
they didn’t attack with the vigour or the tempo or the Messi of Guardiola’s
Barcelona but they were stifled by overly cautious adversaries and ultimately
they were too pragmatic for the neutral. Their performances in last summer’s
Confederations Cup shouldn’t be ignored, where La Roja lost out to a rabid
Brazil side who benefitted from an extremely lenient referee.

Oh yeah, Australia are there too.

Ivory Coast’s ‘Golden Generation’ have one last chance to
endear themselves to Diego Simeone by actually achieving something and not meekly
surrender like a kitten in the Safari the minute the pressure is on, while
their group rivals Colombia, or the new Belgium, will be expected to impress on
their first showing in the tournament in sixteen years.

In Group D you can’t help but feel the perverse pleasure Mario
Balotelli and Luis Suarez will derive from tormenting the English defence will
be dwarfed only by Roy Hodgson’s pride at predicting his own side’s downfall.
To be fair aside from Hodgson and the uninspiring Wayne Rooney of post-2009
this is for the most part a ‘new’, modern England. Youngsters like Raheem
Sterling, Luke Shaw and Ross Barkley have the potential to play on the
international scene over the next decade. However regardless of the turf
specialists or the personalized energy drinks catering for each players’ electrolyte
need or Steve Peters (Brazil first brought a sports psychiatrist to the World
Cup in 1958) this tournament has arrived a tad too early and we should expect
to see 50 years of hurt manifest in a more ambitious campaign in France 2016.

Didier Deschamps’ unusually youthful side are still on the
slow road to recovery after Raymond Domenech’s tumultuous reign at the helm (apologies
to the word tumultuous). The squad includes Lucas Digne and the exceptional
Paul Pogba from last year’s victorious Under 20 World Cup campaign, while
Raphael Varane and the previously banished Antoine Griezmann have also
travelled to South America. While the exclusion of Samir Nasri has been dissected
already (“Fuck France and fuck Deschamps” is a brief synopsis), Les Bleus’ hopes have been boosted by a
relatively easy passageway to the quarter-finals and should they make it that
far they are unlikely to surrender in the most French fashion as they did
against Spain in Euro 2012 when a petrified Laurent Blanc’s squad selection
essentially guaranteed his side would finish goalless.

Argentina’s fate rests in the feet of Lionel Messi whose
performances have dipped over the past year partly due to his determination to enter
the World Cup unscathed. His manager Alejandro Sabella has finally discovered a
system that optimises his number ten’s influence on the game; with both Gonzalo
Higuian and Messi’s best friend in the squad Sergio Aguero playing in front of La Pulga and allowing him more space
between the lines. Everything has been put in place to ensure Messi can lead
the team; with “el jugador del pueblo”,
or player of the people Carlos Tevez omitted from the international squad due
to his disruptive influence and ability to create tension between the fans and
his rival forward, as displayed during the 2011 Copa America.

While his rival Cristiano
Ronaldo is often portrayed as the ultra-competitive warrior, the Argentine’s relentless
need to succeed appears to go under the radar. He barks orders around the Camp
Nou every match like a Napoleon syndrome sufferer, belittling teammates like
Alexis Sanchez and formerly David Villa to the extent that the indifference
between them is obvious to the naked eye. When he spends time playing FIFA with
his friends he is always Barcelona, and always makes the virtual Lionel captain
(even Zlatan resists this temptation). Brazil 2014 is arguably his last
chance to mend the bridges between himself and the Argentine people. Regardless
of how many pounds of red meat he ships from Argentina to Catalunya or the fact
his family still own the house he spent his childhood in; it’s impossible for
many to consider the introvert a compatriot due to the fact he left for
Barcelona at such a young age. In truth this perception couldn’t be further
from the truth, but the only way the feeling will be reciprocated is if he
grabs his side, ailing with an average midfield and a weak defence, by the
collar to victory like El Diego in 1986.

The only man with a big enough ego to match Messi sits in
Group G. Fresh off upstaging Gareth Bale’s Decima winning goal in the Champions
League Final with his own uncomfortable, almost embarrassing display of pretension, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal enter the tournament with a solid team
but again lacking a centre forward, as they have since Paule… well, Eusebio.
Ronaldo should relish the opportunity and welcome the fact he has no equals in
the team, nobody else can steal his limelight. While Xabi Alonso and even
Zinedine Zidane sprinted to the corner of Estadio da Luz after Gareth Bale’s
winner last month Cristiano stood in the centre circle looking as desolate and
inconsolable as the Atletico players. In Brazil if he fails to turn in a
match-winning performance, a scenario which could be partly excused by the
niggles he’s carried over the last two months, no other hero will stand up and
be counted; his team will be out.

Pre-pre-tournament favourites Germany are first round
opponents for the Iberians, although they appear less formidable than six months
ago due to a series of injuries to key players. Marco Reus is out completely,
while the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Sami Khedira are
far from 100%. No German manager has ever survived three tournaments without
reaching the pinnacle never mind four, meaning Jogi Low’s recent two year extension could be
rendered redundant if his team don’t over-achieve and reach the Maracana next
month. He appears to have settled on creating a pastiche of Pep Guardiola’s
Bayern side, with Lahm likely to begin the tournament in midfield despite
Cristiano lurking out wide in the opening game. The noise coming from the camp
is that relations between the Bayern and Dortmund camps are smoother than Poland
and Ukraine two years ago where Toni Kroos in particular was a disruptive
influence; although this may change once the tournament begins and players are picking splinters out of their arse
on the bench.

Low however is not even the German with the most difficult
job in the tournament. Jurgen Klinsmann is charged with the responsibility of
shaping US soccer. He must create a culture, a mentality, a style, a calendar and a development
path while transmitting his “you play for Fulham you haven’t made shit” attitude
to the USA. He has put his neck on the line by banishing the US leader Landon
Donovan, a man he could never quite understand after the captain took a much
needed mental break from football to travel Cambodia amongst other things. Not
only is he out to alter the minds of the country’s footballers, but also the
men who make their bread or scan their groceries.

“By no means do we have the social environment where a
professional player loses a game and the next day he gets bothered by the fans
when he goes to the butcher, the baker, the supermarket. We don’t have that
kind of accountability and this is what we would love to have one day. But it
will still take a few years.”

Frankly, all the teams mentioned so far may as well not
travel though, because Belgium are going to win the World Cup (they won’t).
Somehow they’ve jumped up to the fifth favourites ahead of Italy and Portugal.
All cynicism aside the squad has depth and oozes quality in a number of
positions, while they are considered to have one of the friendlier schedules of
all the teams in Brazil, playing in three of the cooler stadiums in the group
stage. They do face the prospect of a second round tie with Germany or Portugal
however and like England, this tournament may have come a couple of years too
soon.

Brazil however are here and now. The nation is still haunted
by the last time they hosted the tournament where their premature celebrations
inspired Uruguay in the final match. At the back David Luiz and Thiago Silva
are as enjoyable as a centre-half partnership can be, while there will be a
huge onus on an out of form and jaded Oscar to link the defence to the attack.
Felipe Scolari will be confident fatigue should not be an issue; Brazil have
always considered themselves ahead of the rest of the world with regards to
physical preparation. Paulo Paixao, responsible for a fresh Brazil side in
2002, is again in charge of each players’ individual fitness programme.

It all comes back to one man though, Neymar. His first
season in Europe has been mixed. While he has scored important goals against
Atletico Madrid and improved certain aspects of his game (for example his penetrative runs. His sprint in behind the Real Madrid defence to earn a penalty at
the Bernabeu this season was exceptional), his form dropped off after the forced
resignation of Sandro Rosell. Injuries limited his time on the pitch, and when
he did it became clear he was placing too much of an emphasis on issues away
from the ball. Any player who is forced to expose his underwear five times on
camera during a Champions League quarter final needs to reassess where his
priorities lie.

Saudade. A word
without direct translations Brazilians use to explain the state of tragically
longing for an absent person or thing; unaware whether it will return or not.
At times this season it has appeared apt to describe Neymar’s stuttering club form.

With Brazil however he has continued to shine, making a
mockery of such an idea; playing from the left and taking advantage of the space
inside that Fred creates. In the yellow jersey of the Selecao he is consciously
determined to win. Another Sao Paulo state native Ayrton Senna once wondered
about his own capabilities. "There are moments that seem to be the natural
instinct that is in me. Whether I have been born with it, or whether this
feeling has grown in me more than other people, I don't know, but it is inside
me and it takes over with a great amount of space and intensity." When you
watch Neymar for Brazil you are in awe of how naturally gifted he is, how the
innovation flows from his toes effortlessly. If he plays well, Brazil will win.
He is that good.

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Twitter Updates 2.2.1: FeedWitter

Twitter Updates 2.2.1: FeedWitter

Twitter Updates 2.2.1: FeedWitter

Keep an Eye on... Emre Can

Labelled "the most complete player at his age I have ever seen" by German under-17 chief Steffen Freund, the barrel-chested, naturalised German captained his multicultural peers at the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico this Summer. While comparisons with Michael Ballack may seem lazy, they're not totally inaccurate, although Can is a more technically astute player, highlighted by his goal against the home team in the semi-final defeat in Latin America. Should his development continue he may well burst into the Bayern Munich first team in the future.